UPDATED: County Goes Back on Pulling Kaiser Medical

3/14/19:

Teamsters Local 1932 is pleased to announce that the County Committee in charge of employee medical benefits, the San Bernardino County Employees’ Benefit Advisory Committee (EBAC), has rescinded its attempt to eliminate Kaiser from its medical plans. The previously scheduled Emergency Meeting on Sunday is canceled. Your union rang the alarm, County employees used their voice, and the short-sighted motion to remove Kaiser was stopped.

The County message you received this morning is filled with misleading statements. Contrary to what the County message you received this morning states, Kaiser benefits will increase NOT decrease in premium costs. Additionally, thousands of County employees know County-negotiated benefits are NOT affordable. In fact, thousands are on some sort of public assistance because of these high costs.

When tens of thousands of County employees became Teamsters in 2015, leadership at Local 1932 learned that monumental decisions surrounding your health care were made, not at the negotiating table, but by County officials and ultimately the Board of Supervisors. Our role has been advisory, but it’s been a token measure at best. The County has not complied with requests to produce documents that prove whether or not previous iterations of County employee representation ceded direct decision making on health care. Teamsters Local 1932 is dedicated to changing this.

On the sidelines of EBAC, we’ve raised countless ways that County officials can cut down on health care expenses for the average County employee. After all, Teamster locals like ours have been in the business of negotiating outstanding health care benefits for over 100 years. But, time and time again, County officials have taken an “our way or the highway approach,” as this Kaiser situation so well highlights. This is not how things should be done.

We will be addressing this situation in the current negotiations with the County. In the coming weeks, Teamsters Local 1932 will schedule informational meetings concerning how your union will proceed with EBAC’s unilateral approach to health care. Until then, stand together as Teamsters, and together we can win.

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3/13/19:

San Bernardino County tries to eliminate Kaiser — Teamsters Local 1932 fights to protect member benefits!

The County Committee in charge of your benefits has put those of you on Kaiser at risk. Teamsters Local 1932 adamantly opposed this position but was outvoted by County Officials on the ineffective San Bernardino County Employees’ Benefit Advisory Committee (EBAC).

In July of 2018, in our Newsletter, we expressed our frustrations with the EBAC process and system and we believe current negotiations with the County will allow us to rectify this situation.

Their Kaiser decision highlights everything wrong with the County’s system of managing health care. These are the types of decisions that should be made at the bargaining table, not on a committee that has been toothless long before the inception of Teamsters Local 1932 in 2015.

Thankfully, we still have time to reverse the decision on Kaiser — attend the emergency meeting at Teamsters Local 1932 Union Hall this Sunday, 3/17, 10 AM, so we can act NOW.

Until then, it is crucial that you call your representative on the Board of Supervisors to make your voice heard (list below) — STOP THE ELIMINATION OF KAISER ON COUNTY MEDICAL.

Contact your Business Agent or a County Bargaining Committee member (see list here) for more information!